The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-09-08

The voice was Deacon w mtney
and sounded from the wood-shed clos
by. Tad fled ANONYMOUSLY through
the rear barn door, while Joe reluct
antly obeyed the direful summons. No
that Deacon Whitney was unreason
ably harsh or stern. Indeed, his wife
said: "Joe's thrashin's hurt the deacon
dretful sight more'n they did Joe, "
which was doubtless true. The boy
knew that his father loved him sin
cerely, and that the whippings were
not given in anger, but from a sense o.
duty, and, though he would willingly
have dispensed with them, Joe never
cherished the slightest feelings of anger
or resentment, after the first smart hac
passed away.
Leaving Joe to his impending fate
Tad climbed the barn-yard fence, and
with jubilant feeling of gladness
which was only Swallowed by the oc-
casional thought of his new friend
disappointment, made his way down
across the deacon's meadows, to the
brook.
Tad knew nothing whatever about
trout-fshing, as matter of course.
He had caught founders and cunnerS
from the piers, like most city boys
but only those. However. he had a
general idea of some of the require
ments for the piscatorial art. So, with
a very light heart, he followed the
''mill brook" as it was called, through
a field and an adjoining pasture, till he
came to an alder swamp, where, hav-
ing cut a pole, Tad sat himself down to
shape and trim it.
Well, it was indeed a lovely morn
ing. The sky above him, fecked with
drifting white clouds, was of the deep
est blue, the air soft and spring-like,
and the peaceful stiffness unbroken
only by the occasional cawing of Crows
or scream of a bluejay.
Tad sat drinking in the beauty of the
time and place, softly whistling to him.
self as he worked, and thought over the
many strange things that had come in
to his life in one short week, and all
because an absent-minded man had left
his traveling-sachel on the seat in a
railroad station.
"Why, it just seems as though I'd
been swopped off for somebody else"
he said, with great sigh of thankful
ness. And though, as might be ex-
pected, Tad Thorne's religious knowl-
edge was of the vaguest possible order,
he somehow felt his heart going out
thankfully to the Maker of such a
beautiful world.
"There," said Tad, as, finishing trim
ming the pole. he rose to his feet and
brushed off the twigs, ''now for the
trout"
The brook went dancing and laugh
ing along at his side. with here and
there mimic waterfall, at the foot of
which the foam and bubbles drifted
about in frothy masses.
With fingers trembling little with
excitement, Tad fastened his line, with
it's heavy sinker and hook large enough
for black bass, to the end of the pole.
Adjusting the bait, he threw his line
into the deepest part of the pool.
81 guess 1t isn't a very good day for
trout, any way" he murmured, after
about five minutes of letting his line
drift along in the current, and pulling
it up again. But stop! little tug at
the hook sent thrill from his finger
tips to his toes! With q jerk that
would have landed a three-pound trout,
Tad pulled out club about four inches
long, which, with hook, line and sink
er, was Immediately entangled in the
alder branches over his head, requiring
some ten minutes of perspiring effort to
clear it.
''Trout amt as big as 1 thought for
he said, half aloud, as he surveyed his
prize. at must take an awful lot of
'em to make a mess" Tad added,
gravely, as he strung the small fish on
a twig. and made his way a little fur
ther upstream, in his ignorance pass
ing over the deep pools and swelling
eddies, which are generally the Turk
ing-places of the spotted beauties.
By eleven o'clock, Tad, who had
caught seven clubs, each about finger
in length, began to think that the
charm of trouting had been consider
ably overstated. 1t was rather early
in the season for mosquitoes, yet there
were quite enough of them about to
make it quite lively for fisherman.
He had assembled the brook about two
miles, and was tired and decidedly
hungry; and, moreover, he found him
self right n the heart of what seemed
to Tad's >lnaccustomed eyes bound
less forest.
Sitting down on stump, Tad gazed
about him, wondering at the solemn
silence. Overhead, the wind sighed
softly through the tops of the great
pines. Red squirrels chittered in the
spruce and hemlOck trees, and q par
ticularly venturesome one dropped a
cone from an overhanging bough at his
very feet, vanishing among the branches
with wonderful swiftness, as Tad
looked suddenly up. A partridge
drummed in the distance, and a wood
chuck scampered rapidly through the
underbrush at little way off.
81 wonder if there are any bears in
these woods" thought Tad, with an
uncomfortable thrill pervading his
frame at the bear possibility. I'D
either have to run or climb a tree if l
saw one coming" he thought, land
yet, what good would that do, where